Yunnan Photo Diary – Dali

China’s most popular tourist destinations include Beijing, Shanghai, XiAn, which I’ve already visited. So last winter, I explored the province of Yunnan in Southwest China with my mom and brother. Yunnan is a province with many ethnic minorities of China. Although westerners think of China as one homogenous people, the population is actually made up of many different peoples. I’ve always thought of myself as Chinese American, but when I visited Yunnan, I realized I’m considered part of the “Han” majority. In the different cities we visited, we were met with tour guides from different ethnic groups. Our first guide in the city of Dali, was from the Bai minority (or white, because of their fondness of the color white) , the city of Li Jiang was the NaXi (which means black in the Naxi language) minority, and in Shangra-La, our guide was Tibetan. Each of the minorities have their own language and traditional dress. There was even a tourist attraction called “minority village” in the province of Kunming introducing all the minorities.

Butterfly Springs in Dali

I found Yunnan to be clean compared to the more urban Shanghai and Beijing. The Butterfly Springs in Dali, had such clear water, I could see the bottom of the springs. Of course, like the rest of the world, they are feeling the effects of pollution. The Jade Dragon Mountains in LiJiang, which are the southernmost glaciers in the northern hemisphere used to have snowy peaks all year round, but now it’s only during the winter season.